Meeting Announcement -
October 15th: Open Bar "Drinks Only" Night
Event Details
When: Wednesday, October 15th, 6 - 9 pm
What: IGDA-Montreal "Drinks Only" Night
Where: Vinyl Lounge (2109 rue de bleury, between Sherbrooke and de Maisonneuve)
Why: Some much needed mid crunch season relief...
Who: All IGDA members
Entry: free for IGDA members
Open Bar + Food
Thanks to our gracious sponsors, we'll be providing an open bar from 6-9pm (!), along with party-style hors d'oeuvres and munchies. That's right, no lectures and stuff, just drinking and schmoozing for a change. Please remember to drink responsibly.
Entertainment
For our audio pleasures, A2M is offering up three of their developers, who just so happen to be wicked awesome lounge DJs:
- Levon Louis (Houston/Los Angeles): Hailed "a driving force" by The Austin Chronicle and up for "Best DJ", "Best Electronica", and "Keyboardist of the Year" in his hometown.
- DJ Eliazar (Chicago): Eli has put records on for enthusiastic crowds from Turkey to Tokyo, Thailand, and the UK. World lounge grooves are his specialty.
- Dan Alvarez (Vancouver): Montreal's hot hand in the house music arena, on regular rotation at top dance spots like Cherry and Salon Daome with a soulful sound.
Members-Only
This event is for IGDA members only. You do not have to RSVP, we will have a printed membership list on site (but if you bring your membership card, it'll go much faster). You must be an IGDA member in good standing to attend or become one prior to attending. Contact us if you are uncertain of your membership status, or log into your MyProfile page.
Chapter Sponsors
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Posted by della on October 6, 2008 11:06 AM | Comments (1)
Meeting Report -
Something in the Way He Moves: The New Prince of Persia
By Steve Wark
Quite a crowd gathered outside the SAT on Thursday for the first meeting of the season. According to an impromptu survey by Jason Della Rocca once the audience settled into their seats, half were there to learn about the new Prince of Persia game from the Team Leads, while the rest wanted to socialize and drink free beer. Knowing what your audience wants and expects was the theme for the evening.
The SAT filled up fast...
The session opened with a short presentation from Gordon Bellamy of Image Metrics, the sponsor of the meeting. Gordon played a short video interview with Emily, who demonstrated the company's accomplishments in facial animation. The interview has been making the rounds of technology and culture publications, broadcasts and blogs in recent weeks.
Then, the Team Leads for the Prince of Persia game took the stage. Producer Ben Mattes introduced the speakers: Francois Emery (Level Design Director), Andrew Walsh (Narrative Director), Thomas Delbuquet (Combat Designer) and David Wilkinson (Animation Director). Each speaker addressed the problems of introducing a revamped Prince of Persia into an open world environment by asking fundamental questions like, "What makes a good Prince of Persia game?" and "Who is the new Prince of Persia?"
The PoP Panel: Thomas Delbuquet (combat designer), Francois Emery (level design director), Ben Mattes (producer), Andrew Walsh (narrative director) and David Wilkinson (animation director)
The key, according to Mattes, was remembering the focus of the original PoP games: amazing acrobatic sequences. The game world was designed as a network of challenges (such as combat, puzzle or story sequences) connected by multiple paths. Throughout the game, players make decisions about which paths to take and which goals they want to pursue as they explore their world. Those choices affect everything else in the game, from how the story is presented, to how the enemies manifest their abilities, to how Elika, the Prince's companion, uses her powers to assist the Prince.
For all that action, the highlight of the presentation was Animation Director David Wilkinson's standing up to demonstrate how the new Prince just…hangs out. The new Prince doesn't stand around like a doofus. Instead, his stance says everything about his character: he's a lighter character than the grimly determined original Prince, arrogantly confident in his abilities that he fights with his sword point-down and so laid back that he’s always slouching. Wilkinson stood up and demonstrated the new Prince's cool new pose - equally ready to fight a demon, run along a crumbling wall or banter with Elika.
David provides a very, uh, colorful, description of the Prince's stance.
The Q&A session was lively. Good questions from the floor were rewarded with custom Prince of Persia t-shirts brought back from the Penny Arcade Expo. Questions included the Prince's inconsistent accent (Answer: someone will always hate the accent, so the focus was on clarity), story management in a non-linear setting (Answer: it’s difficult and requires a lot of team communication), and the decision to move away from a realistic art style towards something more illustrative (Answer: this is a game, real life is boring).
Finally, the door prizes were raffled off and audience members filled out a post-meeting evaluation survey, to help the Advisory Committee make sure the remaining events of the season meet audience expectations.
Ben takes further questions after the panel.
The drinks & socializing contingent of the crowd should be happy with the plans for the October meeting: a night of networking and drinks at an as-yet undetermined location. Watch this space for details.
Continue reading "Something in the Way He Moves: The New Prince of Persia"
Posted by RaynaAnderson on September 22, 2008 09:39 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Local News -
Warren Spector to give MIGS keynote
According to gamesindustry.biz, Alliance numérique has announced several of their speakers for the coming Nov 18-19 conference. This includes Warren Spector who will be delivering a keynote speech. The website has the list of speakers to date.
Posted by RaynaAnderson on September 10, 2008 03:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Meeting Announcement -
September 11: Prince of Persia - A Team Leads Discussion
Event Details
When: Thursday, September 11th @ 7:00pm
What: IGDA-Montreal Presentation Night
Where: The SAT, 1195 St.Laurent
Why: A discussion with the PoP team leads
Who: All game developers, and those related to the game industry
Entry: free for IGDA members; $5 for non-members
Poster: Print out our snazzy PoP poster (1.5MB - jpg) and pin it up at work to help promote the event.
Presentation
"A Discussion with the PoP Team Leads..."
One of the most highly anticipated titles for the 2008 Holiday season, Prince of Persia is a completely re-imagined interpretation of a video game classic. The leads from the PoP team will discuss their inspiration, production process and challenges, providing insight into the creation of this uniquely stylized game.
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 David Wilkinson - Animation Director |
Prize Raffle + T-Shirts/Hats
As usual, there will be an IGDA members' raffle for game development books, games and other goodies. Additionally, Parallele Promotions will provide custom made IGDA branded t-shirts and baseball caps that we'll be giving out to members.
Meeting Sponsor
Chapter Sponsors
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Posted by della on August 24, 2008 04:12 PM | Comments (0)
Local News -
Yannis Mallat On Production At Ubisoft
Gamasutra has posted an interview with Yannis Mallat on production at Ubisoft here in Montreal. He talks about the development of casual games, appealing to new audiences and creating new IPs.
Posted by RaynaAnderson on August 18, 2008 01:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
